October Birchbox #2

So… I just ended up using Ibotta, an app that gives you rebates back for things that you buy. Birchbox is on there, where if you buy a subscription, you get $3.00 off. Birchbox also was having a sale where if you buy a subscription, you can get a free Beauty Blender! I currently have the Real Techniques sponge and am happy with that, but I wanted to compare the two myself. I did plenty of Googling comparisons when I first looked at sponges, but wanted to see for myself if a $20.00 product is worth the hype (I’ll go into this in a different post).

For the price, I couldn’t really say no.

I was surprised by getting an October box for my second subscription, but it appeared! The goodies:

Amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo

Acure Cell Stimulating Facial Mask

Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Cream

Exo Pure Remover nail polish remover wipes in Lavender

Well People Expressionist Mascara

The dry shampoo:

I’ll start off with saying that I got something else from this brand over the summer and wasn’t exactly excited to retry the brand, but dry shampoo is one of the few hair products that I use. The packaging is distinctive, though I’m still trying to decide if I like it or not. It seemed to work decently, but I did notice that it started looking a little grayish in some spots before I worked it all in with my fingers.

The mask:

I was so excited by this! I loved that the directions said to put this all over your face until you look like a green sea monster. This was a bit hard to get a very even consistency. This is one of the few masks that say to wait specifically until the mask is dry (roughly 10-15 minutes), but it never seemed to fully dry. Even the thinnest areas were sticky to the touch at least 45 minutes later and it looked exactly the same color and texture as when I put it on. This may need a second revisit.

The face cream:

I’d like to say that I listed combination skin on the account, so getting a cream for dry skin seemed weird. I’ve had oddball problems with a moisturizing mask from this brand before and usually like using an Olay moisturizer, so I wasn’t thrilled about this, but it did pleasantly surprise me. I woke up with dry, peeling skin all over my face one morning, and immediately knew to try this. The skin looked and felt more moisturized right away, and it lasted longer than I’m used to before any visible peeling.

The nail polish remover:

I checked my Birchbox once it had shipped but before I received it, and the website didn’t say these were nail polish remover. I assumed they were makeup remover wipes, and while I don’t usually like the wipes, I was excited about having a couple that were individually wrapped for my makeup bag. This is meant to be a natural, chemical-free remover. The wipes were kind of small but they had a lot of the remover on them (enough that some could drip on the floor). There was enough remover, but I wish the wipes were maybe twice as wide or something, as I used every bit of the wipe and had a lot of chipped polish (one of my nails had absolutely no polish on it). And because I was touching parts of the wipe that were already used, a bit of the polish would wipe off on my fingertips and under the nails. I’d have preferred this in a miniature bottle than wipes. It needed some scrubbing to get all the polish off, but I was surprised at how easily it worked compared to traditional acetone-free remover – it felt closer to a remover that includes acetone!

The mascara:

I already have way too much mascara, including three other completely unopened travel tubes and one from my other Birchbox that I’ve only used once. I have four other mascaras open. This will obviously have to wait. It’s organic, though, and I like the packaging. It’s a matte white tube with minimal text.

Overall, it wasn’t a spectacular box. I was a little disappointed that the mascara was the only makeup product. I usually feel like the things in a first box are a little more of a free-for-all with what you receive, because the brand is trying to give you a fairer representation of their products and it only has a more generalized profile for you. I’ll be cancelling this subscription shortly, but in the meantime I have my November box to play with!